Engine Swap(Comments Please)

[mudinuri]

Hi All,

As the owner of a 1998 Toyota Rav4 manual 2 litre petrol I worry about the cost involved re the poor Fuel consumption, but I do need this car.

As an OAP it"s hard enough to make ends meet as it is and ways to save money have to be considered.

I am not very mechanically minded and was thinking what I could do to improve matters and one of my ideas was the possiblity of transplanting an engine from a different make car into the Rav?

The car and engine I had in mind was a Citroen ZX 1.9 Volcane TD which I had previously owned and always returned at least 40mpg around town and over 60 mpg on a run.

I really like everything about the Rav, except the running costs and would really like to keep it.

So my question is? Has anyone out there any knowledge of an Engine Transplant on an older Rav and if so which engine was used and how easy or difficult was it.

I have a friend with garage facilities, Lifts etc but would there be masses of structural alterations which would have to be made?

Any ideas.

[gjnorthall]

The highish fuel consumption on the petrol Rav isn't because the engine is inefficient (though later models have been technologically improved) - it's more to do with weight, aerodynamics and the fact that it's permanent 4WD. Theres no guarantee that fitting another engine will benefit fuel consumption. Obviously a diesel engine would improve MPG in the same way as diesel Ravs in general will do quite a bit better on fuel than petrol versions.

Engine transplants can be a massive undertaking particularly if it's not a commonly carried out conversion. It can involve a lot of shoehorning, relocation / fabrication of engine mounts, adaptation to mate to the transmission etc etc. Theres lots of pitfalls and costs can escalate - you may also have insurance issues.

You might find, dependent on annual mileage, that it's more cost effective in the long term just to tolerate the fuel consumption. Otherwise, if you need a Rav for other reasons, there may be a case for trading your petrol model for an early 4.2 diesel.

[Madasafish]

Are you a qualified engineer? Do you know a qualified electronics engineer?

Do you have a spare £10,000?

If the answer to the above is yes, then you have a chance of getting to the stage of answering the next question...

Will you ever get insurance?

You will need another £1,000 plus for a qualified engineer to inspect it on behalf of the insurance company.

Let alone the hassle of DVLA re-registration.

Modern cars are so complex and full of electronics, the short answer is : don't bother..

I know someone who decided to convert a Citroen Xantia Activa Petrol to Diesel. After 2 years and £3,000 he gave up...and sold it for scrap. He needed Citroen Technical Information - when they learned what he was trying to do, they refused to assist in any way - fear of being sued when (not if) it went wrong...

[atkiman]

What about an lpg conversion , it'd be a lot cheaper.

[mudinuri]

Thanks for all your comments.

It looks as if fitting a different engine is a no go, so my options are:

a) Buy a Diesel Rav

b) Fit LPG.

Has anyone any experience of fitting LPG to a Rav and what sort of money are we talking about?

Cheers

all

[Raistlin]

Have a look at this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LPG-gas-conversion-kit-TOYOTA-RAV4-VVTi-1AZ-FE-autogas-sequential-fuel-system-/380607418718

[gjnorthall]

The economics are very dependent on the miles you cover and the cost of LPG locally - there can be huge differences in LPG costs between outlets. A good quality proven reliability system would be of the order of £1400 upwards fitted. The system would need to include Valve Care injection system and there would be a cost involved for replenishing the fluid. LPG tanks come in various shapes and sizes but you'd really be limited to fitting it in the luggage space on the Rav and this may or may not be an issue to you. If you search the internet - there are many tools available which calculate the economics when you input the parameters specific to your vehicle - see the Prins website - reckoned to be one of the better systems on the market.

[Awebb180]

how many miles per year are you currently doing?

Alex

[mudinuri]

Thanks all.

Yes, I suppose it all depends on my mileage which to be fair at the moment isn"t that much, but the whole point of trying to keep fuel costs down is that we can go further afield when we want to.

Looking at the costs involved I think my next action must be to look for a Diesel 4x4. My previous 3 vehicles have all been Landrover Freelander TD4s, which have all been reasonably economical as far as Fuel costs but all suffered at some time, mechanical issues.

I"m in no immediate rush, so will scour the ads in the next month or two to see what is for sale.

Thanks for all the help and advice.